I. Field of Invention
This invention relates to systems for the automated feeding of poultry and the like, and more particularly to systems of this type which have a plurality of individual feeder pans, to which feed is supplied from a feed trough having an internal conveyor means.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Automated feeding systems have been in use for sometime which include a supply hopper, a feed trough having an internal conveyor means such as an auger or the like, and a plurality of feeder pans attached to the trough and located immediately therebeneath for receiving feed from the trough generally through an opening in the bottom of the trough located above each feeder pan. Feeder pan systems of this nature generally have a dished or concave lower portion which holds the feed so that it is accessible to the poultry or animals being fed, such feeder pans often having a generally enclosed upper portion communicating with the feeder trough through an opening therein for supplying feed to the aforementioned dish-shaped lower portion from the trough. Generally, means are provided at the end of the trough to shut the internal conveyor means down when the feeders are full. A representation of some highly developed prior art assemblies which have worked quite successfully is shown in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 3,566,843, entitled POULTRY FEEDER PAN FOR AUGERTYPE FEEDERS, issued Mar. 2, 1971; U.S. Pat. No. 3,530,833, entitled ANIMAL FEEDER WITH SAFETY SHUT-OFF, issued Sept. 29, 1970; U.S. Pat. No. 3,490,419, entitled POULTRY AND ANIMAL FEEDER APPARATUS, issued Jan. 20, 1970; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,349,753, entitled AUTOMATIC WEIGHT OPERATED POULTRY FEEDING DEVICE, issued Oct. 31, 1967.
A particular disadvantage of the automated feeding systems in use today is that when feed is being dispensed into the feeder pans, the feeder pan closest to the source of feed begins filling first and each subsequently spaced feeder pan then sequentially begins to fill up. In a large poultry environment, this causes extreme difficulties in that the poultry immediately flock to the first available source of feed. Only the stronger and more aggressive bird succeeds in reaching a space to feed from and the lesser aggressive birds become confused and in fact end up not feeding even though feed is then available in subsequent spaced pans. Thus, inefficient irregular feeding results. A related problem is that existing systems do not provide a means for supplying measured amounts of feed to be equally distributed amongst the poultry present over preselected time intervals. It is becoming ever more apparent that a particulary effective method of raising poultry is to supply the poultry small predetermined amounts of feed intermittently so that the bird is continually fed but at the same time is continually hungry. This method of raising poultry has been found to be not only economical in the sense of maximum utilization of feed, but also has produced a productive broiler or layer in as short of time as heretofore possible. Current feeding systems however do not provide an adequate means to provide sequential intermittent feeding of preselected amounts over preselected time intervals. Current systems also are disadvantageous with regards to flexibility and ease of adjustment to fit changing requirements. Thus, there is a need in this art for an improved automated feeding system of the type described.